“I was cautioning folks about email and how we have had
several occasions where Congress has asked for emails and there has been
an electronic search for responsive emails—so we need to be cautious
about what we say in emails,” Ms. Lerner wrote. “Someone asked if
[instant messaging] conversations were also searchable—I don’t know, but
told them I would get back to them. Do you know?”“[Instant] messages are not set to automatically save as the
standard; however the functionality exists within the software,” the
technician wrote back. “My general recommendation is to treat the
conversation as if it could/is being saved somewhere, as it is possible
for either party of the conversation to retain the information and have
it turn up as part of an electronic search.”“Perfect,” Ms. Lerner replied.